Toothbrushing Charla with Parents

My favorite is the little boy in the front holding up his new homemade toothbrush

Part of my job as a Healthy Schools Volunteer is to work with parents' groups. If I can get kids to wash their hands and brush their teeth in schools that will be amazing, but if I can get them to do it at home as well that will be even better. I haven't worked in a school in the States, but I imagine that the involvement of parents (mostly mothers) here is much greater. Each school has a rotation of all of the mothers who make snack for the kids every day. This means that every day about 5 mothers come to school to make the snack. I find this amazing. I think it might have to do with the fact that a lot of the mothers work out of the home caring for the kids or work in informal jobs (i.e. a little store that sells snacks, soda, etc. out of their home).

Also my schools are willing to give me time at their almost monthly parents' meetings to give a talk on health subjects. They also will call all of the parents there when I have a charla (lesson) to give them. So far I have given talks to parents on basic hygiene practices such as hand washing and toothbrushing. There is usually a good turnout, too! The talks that I have given usually about 60 parents (again mostly mothers), which is the majority. Most of the parents have multiple kids in the school. Big families are still the norm here. 

Presenting to parents is not without it's challenges. In the area that I live, all of the parents speak K'iche' the local Mayan language and if I am lucky about half of them also speak Spanish. Therefore I have to have someone translate my Spanish into K'iche' for me. There is also a very high rate of illiteracy among the parents. I am used to presenting with powerpoints and poster papers with limited words, but I have had to become creative with finding ways to demonstrate and explain using pictures. The sign in sheets are another potential issue. With illiterate parents they cannot write their names so I bring along an ink pad so they can put their thumbprint instead. 

Here are some pictures from one of my toothbrushing charlas. In my talk I taught them how to make homemade toothpaste and toothbrushes. I had each person make a homemade toothbrush. This is where you take a little stick like a tongue depresser, wrap a small piece of cloth around it, and tie it on both ends with dental floss. The toothpaste is made out of baking soda, salt, and water. Once they were completed I then had them all go outside and brush their teeth using the homemade toothbrush and toothpaste. 

Getting homemade toothpaste (not going to lie it tastes really bad)

Yes, that child on the floor is eating junk food